Devil May Cry: Interference
by Drell Warrioress
Summary: A girl named Ellynore ends up stuck in the "Devil May Cry" world. With dangers ahead, she must stop the evil Sanctus from accomplishing his plan and save her new friends' lives, including herself.
1. Chapter 1

**Devil May Cry—Interference  
>Chapter 1<strong>

After such a long trip from school on the bus, Ellynore had just headed towards her home and unlocked the front door. Once she turned to enter her bedroom, she dropped her satchel and took off her school blazer as it was too warm to wear it any longer, and it was school policy to wear the marked blazer at school and one a student's journey to their home from there.

Ellynore hated the fact that she had to wear a blazer as part of the uniform; she hated the fact that the fleecy material inside always made her sweat, whether it was cold or hot, and if she was moving or not. Luckily, this was the last time she would have to wear it for the next five months.

When she was clean and had a fresh set of clothes, she immediately got herself comfortable at the computer and went to play one of her most favourite games she's known in her life: Devil May Cry. It was a game that inspired her to kill demons and learn what it was like to be an unstoppable hero who fought his enemies with style and class. The main character in this game, Devil May Cry 4, was not played at the beginning, but a new protagonist was introduced, Nero, and was played at the beginning while the more recognisable hero, Dante, could only be played once the player had reached the eleventh mission out of twenty.

Ellynore put the game disc into the CD drive and clicked on "Play" and waited for the main menu to pop up. Once the game title had appeared—having skipping through the software logos and opening trailer—she selected "Start," "Load Game" and selected the first save game that displayed the statistics.

_"Mission 1: Legendary Dark Knight. Time: 000:00:00_

"Hmm," Ellynore wondered. "I guess I might try out the harder level. I have beaten it on 'Human' and 'Devil Hunter'." She selected the file and began watching the opening scene.

However, when the opening scene plays, the company logo appears. But this time, that logo never appeared, and the opening credits hadn't appeared as the scene progressed to view the game's minor characters.

"Huh, that weird," Ellynore said as she kept watching and listening carefully for an extra couple of seconds. For some peculiar reason, no music was playing and there were sound effects playing as the character shown on the screen, Nero, had encountered a group of weak demons. Nero fought the demons, and the sounds of his shouts and grunts were heard, whereas they should have been muted where the song "Out of Darkness" should be heard.

"Looks like the game needs a system check-up," Ellynore said as she was about to press the 'Esc' button, until… "ARGH!" she screamed as the button she pressed had sent an electric shock to her left index finger. "WHAT THE HELL?" she screamed in agony and frustration.

Soon, the screen had turned black and soon shined an extremely bright light that it had almost blinded Ellynore. Her eyes had become heavy and her head became dizzy. And soon, her head fell forward on the keyboard and lost consciousness. 

Ellynore groaned as she tried to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first but soon started to clear up as she got back on her feet, groaning from the shock she had from her computer some time ago. "How did this happen..?" she asked herself quietly.

She examined the area surrounding her. The hallways were slightly dark with fired torches lit, like she was in a medieval castle. She could hear echoes along the hallway, and as she followed it slowly—while looking around her in every direction—the echoes became louder and clearer, now defined as sword slashes and gunshots. There were also yells and shouts from possibly two men. The amount of noises made seemed fast paced, and possibly fierce too.

"Looks like someone's been caught up in a big fight," Ellynore said, examining a bit more of the area. "Those voices... They sound a lot like Dante and Nero..." Suddenly, she gasped as if she had an epiphany, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. "I've been sent into the Devil May Cry 4 game..! But, how is that even possible?"

As she thought about this, she kept going through the hallways and spotted the two main characters of the game in a battle. Halting, she quickly thought about how she was going to approach in this rather dangerous scene, and how she would explain about herself if either them or anyone else started to ask questions like, "Who are you?" and "Where did you come from?" Ellynore pushed that thought to the back of her mind and focused hard on the present: the first fight between Dante and Nero.

Nero had just flung Dante over across the room and into a few knocked over benches, but Dante was able to regain balance quickly and look back at Nero. "So, you're looking to play, huh?" he said in wonder, raising his longsword Rebellion. "Alright, I think I've got some time to kill." He emphasised the word "kill" as if this cliché was a message, or warning.

Nero just huffed at his opponent's remark and picked up his sword Red Queen. "Tough guy, huh?" he commented as he turned around and waited for a moment. He then saw a shadow from across the hallway to the Opera House's exit, spotting a girl in a purple top under a grey T-shirt with black slacks and boots.

Ellynore noticed that she'd been seen by Nero, and started to back away until he was calling out to her, "Hey, you need to get out of here! It's not safe!" 

She froze from the calling and suddenly saw Dante about to jump and attack Nero from behind. "Nero, behind you!" she shouted automatically. She saw Nero quickly deflect the attack with Red Queen colliding with Rebellion. The two fighters backed away and stood at a long distance from each other, both of them staring at Ellynore in awe.

"Let me guess," Dante said, slightly deep in thought. "This girl here is your team cheerleader, right? I don't see how she could even hold a sword properly."

Exasperated, Ellynore took an Order of the Sword blade and threw it across the room as if she used a javelin, or spear. The blade threw at a perfect angle but missed Dante by a few inches. "You're thinking of the wrong kind of girl," she responded seriously. "Cheerleaders go for nothing but their own sport-flawed looks and images; I only care about what balances out the world!" She then took a few steps forward.

Dante twitched his head upward in approval. "Well, you missed, but it was a good throw. But let's see how you are at a game called dodgeball." At an instant, he charged with sword in hand, holding the point on Rebellion at Ellynore.

_Damn, I'm gonna get hit! _The thought entered her mind, making her feel tense, but her vision had a different view on the matter—when Dante was about to hit her, his right black glove glowed in a fluorescent red colour, signalling her to evade the attack. _Thank God for Mirror's Edge _she thought as she realised that she had Runner vision. Her hands quickly got a hold of Dante's arm and threw him over to the opposite side, making him slide back across the floor.

"Wow," Nero said in utter amazement. His eyes were wide with shock and his mouth hanging open. "How did you do that?"

Ellynore noticed how Nero looked at her and replied with a small smile, pleased by her reaction time. "I don't know," she said. "I guess I was just good with my timing." This had also surprised her as her only physical skills were walking and tossing tennis balls as well as playing video games with near perfect co-ordination, but she never realised that she had good reflexes and throw seventy kilograms of weight over a distance of at least two metres. 

All that could really cross her mind now was the thought that everything in this new reality was different to her other, regular view on the world's laws of physics. 

"My turn now," Nero said as he charged against Dante, leaving Ellynore to her own business. Without turning his head to distract himself, he called out to her, "You just get yourself to safety—this knight in red's going down to Hell." 

"No, I want to help out," she responded without thinking accountably. "I don't want you to get injured." Although she saw that Nero used his right arm as a weapon, the Devil Bringer, Ellynore still wanted to test her other new skills, if there were more to be revealed sooner than later. Also, she knew what Nero was capable of alone, even with Red Queen, Blue Rose and his Devil Bringer as his only weapons; those were what he started out with in the City of Fortuna, the main assets of the game that Ellynore played back from her home. 

Nonetheless, she had a feeling that she wasn't supposed to leave the Opera House and let the battle continue as it should have from the game. Ellynore took a few steps back slowly and looked at how Nero was going to take down Dante, hoping that he'd win even though she was on both sides of the battle. 

Nero ran to attack Dante with Red Queen, swinging a four-hit combo and sweeping him up in the air to make an airborne four-hit combo. Dante was sent back down to the floor, sliding his feet back to regain balance and quickly getting out Rebellion. He then started to toss his sword at Nero like a boomerang. 

Ellynore watched every attack, recalling what they were when she performed those moves on a computer keyboard. Seeing Dante's attack about to hit Nero, she called out, "Nero, duck!"  
>Nero heard her and quickly rolled to the side to avoid Rebellion's sharp blade. New thoughts came to his head, but decided to focus on the battle until it was finished. He then prepared his Devil Bringer to draw his opponent in and give him a bloody comeback. <p>

"Hey, kid! I'm over here!" Dante taunted Nero; he had inconspicuously walked over to the other side of the hall, standing on top of the altar with Rebellion weighed on his right shoulder. Nero swung over before Dante could perform a slam attack on Nero. Nero had just enough time to grab Rebellion with his Devil Bringer and pushed hard to send Dante to the back of the altar, quickly charging at him and sending a flurry of punches to his head along with several quick uppercuts at his stomach, making him drop his sword. 

Believing that Dante was giving in, Nero threw him up and over to the Sparda statue and threw Rebellion to his heart with great speed and perfect co-ordination. Once Dante was pinned to the statue by his own sword and felt useless, his body became limb. 

Nero turned back to leave, relieved that the battle was over. "How was that?" he asked to himself on the way out. 

"Getting better," said an all too familiar voice from behind. Nero turned and noticed that Dante had been playing dead, lifting his head and pushing himself off the statue along with his sword. "I would even go as far as to say that I've underestimated your...abilities." He then landed on the ground, standing as if he'd forgotten about Rebellion being stuck out through his body.

Nero stared at him in shock and confusion. "You aren't human, are you?" he said to Dante. He quickly turned over to where Ellynore was watching and then back to his opponent. Ellynore was watching, but tried to look as shocked as Nero was, but she couldn't help the feeling that she'd already seen this when playing the game at home. Instead of shock and confusion flooding her mind, there was nostalgia and eagerness; she wanted to see if there were any differences to this scene. 

Dante was remarked by Nero's question, and then saw his own sword through his body. "We're the same," he replied absently, holding the flat sides of his sword and pulling it out from his heart. "You and..." he began saying as the sword was out of his body and in its proper position, finishing off his sentence while pointing to the dead Order of the Sword soldiers, "...and them."  
>Nero was again confused and followed Dante's gaze and saw that the Order of the Sword soldiers shows charred faces with horror. <p>

"Though I suspect you carry something different from the others," Dante said from a distance. Nero looked up and saw him sitting on the edge of a broken window. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"You'll come to learn the meaning soon enough. But, business beckons." Dante got up and started to leave from the window. 

Nero was still curious about what Dante had shown him and fired Blue Rose to get his attention while shouting out, "Hey!" The way that he left had irritated Nero by the way he showed off his multitude of skills and swiftness. 

Dante was out of sight when the bullets were fired, but came back and calling out, "Adios, kid!" before leaving more politely. 

Ellynore watched the scene, but became bored as it was the same as what she saw from before. Soon, several of the Order of the Sword guards came in the Opera House along with their leader Credo at the front of the band. Ellynore quickly moved out of the way to avoid contact, but she knew that they were going to ask some questions to her and Nero, and she wasn't feeling very comfortable about it. 

Soon after Credo and the rest of the Order of the Sword guards had finished up on their investigation in the city's Opera House, Nero went up to Ellynore, some questions on his mind he thought may need answers as soon as possible.

"Hey," Nero said to her. "What you did back there—that move you made. Who taught you that? And who are you? Where did you come from?" Though he was very curious, his tone was calm.

Ellynore felt heat coming over her as Nero asked her those questions. With a silent sigh, she answered with honesty, "Actually, no one taught me anything involving sport. I guess I just reacted when that guy"—she didn't say Dante's name to keep her cover—"went to attack me. My name is Ellynore Moonwood—Ellyn for short—and I come from a far-off country called Australia," she said, not noting that she was in a completely different world. "Really, I'm just a teenager who struggles with school and sport; the only thing I was really good at was writing and playing the guitar. Oh, and no, I can't explain how I threw him over twenty feet of distance."

"Oh, I see," Nero said. "Just another girl being caught up in action when there's nothing else around here that excites her. You're one of them, aren't you?"

"Well, I guess you could say that—usually I'm the kind who keeps herself locked up at home and… reading lots of books. I can be a bit of a bookworm. I hope I wasn't in your way when you two were fighting."

_Strange, _Nero thought to himself, referring to Ellynore. _She didn't even ask about my right arm or anything. _Nero turned and noticed Kyrie, his girlfriend, dragging a huge, dark-coloured case with the Order of the Sword emblem engraved on the top. He went over to her and helped her with the case. "You brought this from me?"

"Credo requested it," Kyrie said, her voice high and soft with youth and beauty. "She yearns for your touch."

"Thanks," Nero thanked her, taking the case and throwing flat on the floor. "This is the best gift a swordsman could ever ask for!" He then got himself busy by setting up the latest model of his sword Red Queen.

Ellyn was in thought herself, and even watched out for anyone who came near her. _So everything in the game is real here, like a second-hand reality. Well, I somehow managed to stop Dante's attack. But, why is it that I've got Runner Vision and high-level strength? Mirror's Edge can't crossover with Devil May Cry, can it? _Soon, an Order of the Sword guard came to her, no doubt wanting to ask questions about what she'd seen.

"What happened when you were in here?" the guard said. "Did the assassin get to you when you came here?"

Ellynore answered, "Well, I was inside and saw two guys fighting, one of them Nero. I was playing a minor role in it and then the…man in red escaped." She still didn't want to act like he knew Dante's name, and saying it in front of an Order of the Sword guard would have a larger possibility of having her knowledge of the Devil May Cry games exposed. "I'm unharmed, if that's what you came to ask me for."

"I see," the guard replied. "It's good that you weren't hurt. You must be very lucky to be alive, then."

"Yeah, I really am," Ellynore exaggerated. She had lots of luck back at her home in Australia, but it seems to her that the game is testing her luck along with her abilities. There were going to be lots of surprises outside, and she was going to have to figure out how to fight lesser demons once she gets outside the Opera House.

Suddenly, there was an earthquake and everyone wondered about what was happening. Nero, Kyrie, her brother Credo, and Ellyn went out of the Opera House to see what was going on. Ellynore knew that there were going to be demons around the city of Fortuna; she just had to stay alive for as long as she could, and show all her bravery at the same time.

"What's happening?" Kyrie asked Nero as they were heading outside through the main corridor and down the stairs. 

"I don't know," Nero answered. "But whatever it is, it can't be good." He then turned to Ellynore. "Ellynore, can you fight any demons?" 

"I don't know; I've never faced any," Ellynore lied slightly. She had faced them, but only in a video game—although, from what she predicted, fighting monsters like demons and possessed knights were going to be harder than it first appeared to be in her point of view.


	2. Chapter 2

**Devil May Cry—Interference  
>Chapter 2<strong>

Ellynore, Nero, Kyrie and Credo headed outside, going down the wide stairs when they suddenly heard the sound of a civilian calling for help. The civilian was walking limply and felt to the ground. 

Without warning, a demon in the form of a live scarecrow came and sliced the civilian at his back, leaving him where he collapsed. 

The sight of a demon killing a helpless civilian frightened Kyrie and hid her face behind Nero. Ellyn saw how scared she was and looked to her brother and Nero to see how they felt about the situation. 

Soon, dozens of civilians came rushing for safety in multiple directions as more demons came to massacre the townsfolk from above. Most of demons were like scarecrows, just like the first one, but some of them had differing weapons and some of their body parts were in different colours. Other demons had knives or enormous, curved swords that were nearly confused with large axes. 

"The man in red is not among them," Credo commented, looking closely at the ravaging town district. 

Nero had his left hand ready to use Red Queen and said, "Credo, take care of Kyrie and Ellyn. I've got this." 

Credo looked over to his sister and Ellynore, the redhead scared and the brunette confused. "Girls, I need to get you two to safety," he then said to them. "You may not make it out of here alive without me." 

Ellynore heard what he'd said but wondered about some other possibilities. "Hang on," she said to Credo. "Those demons don't look very strong. I bet I could take down some of them." 

"No, you could get killed," he objected. "You may have survived against the assassin in red, but this is a squadron of lesser demons." 

"They're not as fast or strong as him," Ellynore persuaded him. "Look, Nero's taking them out easily. The demons are only moving at a slow pace, and most of them aren't moving very stably."  
>"You don't have a weapon." <p>

"No, but I can distract them while Nero fights them. It'll be like teamwork." Ellynore then ran into the battlefield and performed a lower sliding move to avoid a few of the demons' sharp weapons. Nero had stabbed a few of them and revved up Red Queen to deal extra damage. He then saw that Ellynore was running only at short distances and sliding down to distract them from behind. 

He then understood what she was trying to do and quickly ran to some of the dumbfounded demons and revved up Red Queen, taking out three at a time and whirling the powered-up blade to strike a dozen more that surrounded him while Ellynore jumped back to keep away, making sure she didn't get hit. 

Meanwhile, Credo and Kyrie were helping the civilians escape the area, in turn calling out to the demon-slaying duo and watching them if they ever got injured. "We must evacuate the civilians back to Headquarters!" Credo yelled out to them, his voice strong and commanding. "Complete whatever task you need to finish; this goes for the both of you! Report back as soon as you can, and be careful!" 

"I got it already!" Nero called out in return, still busy from taking down all the lesser demons that were in the area with the help of Ellynore to distract them from Nero. Eventually, Credo and Kyrie were gone and safe. Nero was finally able to use his Devil Bringer, now that he didn't need to keep hiding it from his trench-coat's sleeve. Ellynore saw what he was about to do—he was about to unleash some of his strongest attacks to eliminate the horde of demons and drive them out from the district.  
>It only took him one minute to get rid of all the demons. "This baby sure can pack a punch," he commented to himself when he was done. <p>

"No kidding," Ellyn replied. She got back to Nero and was wiping sweat from her forehead, making her auburn fringe sticky and her eyelids watery. "You're a really good fighter, Nero." At that moment, she remembered that she'd called him by his name, shading her eyes which showed shock. 

"Wait, how do you know my name?" Nero asked. "We barely even know each other." His tone of voice was showing confusion, but his mind also held suspicion. 

"Oh, one of the guards told me what your name was," she lied. 

"Right, I see… Well, I'd better head my way over to Fortuna Castle; I gotta catch that guy in red we came across from before. It was nice to see you, Ellyn. Stay safe!" By that moment he was gone, running through the streets and heading out to do his mission, leaving Ellynore alone in the City of Fortuna, and with no one else. 

As Nero headed out through the streets of Fortuna, Ellynore had to find a way to catch up to him and find Dante along the way. She wouldn't take the same route as Nero took, so she'll have to find another way to Fortuna Castle. Although, how was she going to fight the demons that ran amok in the streets? 

All she knew was that there are many possibilities in this new reality; she now had Runner vision and could throw objects at remarkable distances. There may be some other abilities she might have, but she'll have to discover them as she moves on through this nostalgic environment.  
>As Ellynore turned to look for a way to proceed, she found the huge ornate gate near the fountain in the Opera House district light up in fluorescent red, giving her a hint on where to go. She thought about what she was going to do, and then suggested on climbing up the gate, turning on the other side, and then getting down to head further in the streets to find a good route. <p>

She performed this with some effort, surprised by how little experience she'd had from past rock-climbing activities. If she didn't realise about how her strength was better than at home, it would have taken her hours just to get halfway up, let alone the very top. 

Dropping down, Ellynore turned around to see if anything else lit up red in her sight. She eventually found a run-over truck with some crates near its hood that she could jump up to and reach out for the balcony off a tall building nearby. She jogged her way to the truck, took a few steps back for preparation and started running as fast as she could, perform a springboard jump in success, landing safely on the truck, almost at a wheel that spun idly when she put her foot on the rubbery material. 

The balcony wasn't too high, but Ellynore was wondering how far and high she could jump now. She got her answer when she leaped from the truck and raised her arms out high to catch the metal bars of the balcony, pulling herself up and setting her feet on the carpet that decorated the walkway to another building at the side. 

On the other side were half a dozen demons moving idly near some wreckage at some streets, laughing in a menacing mocking tone. Ellynore also noticed that there was a zip-line that led to a certain part of the streets; that part of the area had a square of shallow water in the centre with a pair of double-doors that led somewhere out of the main part of the city. This could be her short-cut to the city port. 

Ellynore thought about taking the zip-line but reconsidered and looked at her hands in frustration. She had no gloves, and if she took the zip-line without them on, she could suffer rope-burn. But how was she going to get to the port without gloves for protection? Where would she find gloves this high up in the city while there were demons infesting the lower ground?

Ellyn looked around and found something small and fluorescent-red at the end of the colonnade. She headed her way there and examined what she'd found, and soon discovered—although they appeared red at a distance—a pair of light gray, leather gloves, with cut-outs at the back of the palm and at the knuckles, but the fingers were fully covered.

Now I can take the zip-line without suffering any damage. I can never find something this awesome at Sydney! This city among others, back home, was known to be the largest around the entire country, and also their main import/export location. Ironically, Sydney is not known to be the Australian capital.

Ellynore slipped the gloves on, surprised that they matched her casual outfit and ran back to where the zip-line was positioned at the colonnade. Seeing how high it would be when the line reached the end, she took a deep breath to prepare herself for the ironically biggest jump she was about to make, carefully positioning her newly gloved hands on the zip-line and vaulting herself off the colonnade's gated barrier and leaping off to ride the zip-line.

She felt more alive and energetic to be riding on the zip-line with the wind blowing a fierce breeze against her arms, face and hair. She then tried to lift her legs up to safely prevent her from crashing on the wall at the other side, and dropping down on the ground. There was some pressure on her heels when she landed and nearly lost her balance from the zip-line ride.  
>As she looked behind her back, the demons roaming the streets didn't take much attention to what had just happened and decided to lay more destruction to the city. Ellynore turned to the double-doors she found from before she took the zip-line and headed her way to the city port.<br>The small buildings were lined up along the steep hill descending to the port, but it didn't mean that this part of the harbour was clean of demons. Ellynore didn't see them yet, but she sensed that they may be lurking nearby. Carefully walking down the steep hill, preventing herself from tripping over and possibly spraining her knees, she reached the harbour, looking around to see where she had to go next.

"OK," she said to herself, wondering around every possible passage. "This lane goes all the way to the left side, but the gap is too far apart for me to cross. If I go the other way when I reach the end of the lane, that would take me over to the bridge, but that hadn't been lowered down yet and it leads to the mines below, taking me over to the small town outside Fortuna's walls. Maybe there's another way to get across…"

Finding an alternate route from the main one in the game would be difficult—Ellyn's eyes weren't made for environmental examinations, mostly reading. Although, considering how she now has Runner Vision, there might be a way to speed things up.

There were ways to get to the city mines ahead, but which one was best? Since the place was a port, Ellynore may consider swimming across, but the encumbrance of her clothes may make her slower, and she would have to put in extra strength in her arms and feet; stroking and kicking across to the other side of the port would be easier if her clothes weren't suitable for cooler climate.

Soon, when walking along the main walkway, her red-highlighted path came into view with some narrow platforms that went around the front side of the lifted bridge. As she went to see where the path ended, it went under the bridge, where there were bars, highlighted in the same fluorescent red colour, that were good for climbing.

"Damn," cursed Ellynore. "How am I gonna shift over those bars?" She now had a feeling that she might lose her grip on the bars and fall in the water.

* * *

Meanwhile, Nero had been putting up multiple fights against lesser demons on his way out of the City of Fortuna. He had made his way down to the city port, following the path to some floating boats anchored on the left. A distinctive blue light appeared in midair, halfway across the water, indicating that this was where Nero had to go.

He gazed at his right arm, thinking that he was on the right track, but also had doubts as to what lied on the other side. Putting that thought aside, he engaged as his arm powered up and launched at the azure blue with its power, pulling the rest of Nero's body over to the end of the gap, landing perfectly on the concrete ground.

"Huh?" Nero turned back, thinking he'd heard something from where he'd left just recently. There were very faint sounds of footsteps, along with the sound of skin clasping on metal. Thankfully, this wasn't enough to make the young half-demon curious about the city port's entire environment. "Must've been some people hiding in their boats," he said quietly to himself, pressing on with his journey to find Dante. Of course, for Nero however, it didn't mean that he'd seen the last of the Scarecrow demons that have been lurking around the residential area of Fortuna. 

Ellynore nearly lost her grip against the bars, but managed to vault her legs back to help make her more stable as she traversed to the other side under the bridge. Thank God for those gloves I found, she thought to herself in relief. After a few frustrating attempts to reach out for the next bar with one hand and quickly shifting her other hand for the next one, she made it to the top of the first half of the raised bridge, but stopped to think before she made another move.

There was a gap that prevented her from reaching the other half of the bridge; the first question that came into her mind was: "How would I be able to cross the gap without falling into the water?"

Just then, the sound of metal slashing came to her ears, along with faint growls and laughs of mockery. From what she could suspect, the distant noises may be from Nero's battle against another horde of lesser demons. While feeling slightly proud for getting ahead of him, dread also flooded through Ellynore's mind—if Nero found a way to lower the bridge she was under, how would she be able to continue from there whilst still trying to keep her head above water?  
>Sink or swim…? Great…<p>

Still hanging, a new idea came to Ellynore, but also concentrated on what was still in front of her. Carefully, she raised one foot from behind her and reached out for one of the bars held on the opposite side of the bridge, turning it around so that it was held firmly in the gap between two of the metal bars. Switching her hands over, she then gave way for her other foot, performing the same procedure as her most recent attempt. Once both feet were at the other side, she slid them down to a lower set of bars and using her hands to grab on the edge.

The next part was going to be frightening for Ellyn. Now that her lower legs were placed behind the bars on the other side, she shut her eyes tight while letting her hands release the edge of the bridge. The loose part of her body fell down as he hands went past her feet and almost touch the water's surface, nearly letting out a scream from falling down. Once she came back to her senses, she vaulted herself up while she let her hands rise up for the higher bars—on the new half of the bridge.

Back to her usual position, Ellynore resumed shifting herself to the other side. It became easier as she progressed even further and reached the end of her path on the bridge—and Nero hasn't even reached the control room to lower it down.


	3. Chapter 3

**Devil May Cry—Interference  
>Chapter 3<strong>

"Yes—made it!"

Ellynore triumphantly crossed the bridge and made her way up the stairs ahead, leading her to the mines underneath the small town outside of Fortuna. Her path will not be as frustrating as most recently, to her highest hopes, as she remembered that the way to the rural town only involved climbing up small cliff ledges.

As Ellyn got to the doors and pushed them opened, a loud grating noise was heard from the other side. She turned and saw that the bridge was coming down and formed perfectly into one piece.  
><em>I'm still ahead of Nero, <em>Ellynore thought to herself. _I don't need the bridge anymore now that I'm heading over to the mines. _To her own wonder, a new thought had occurred to her as she proceeded into the underground passage. What if the fire demon lord Berial comes when I get towards the smaller town, instead of coming when Nero does? Fighting against a demon boss was something she was not looking forward to experience, even so soon with the recent discovery of her given powers.

After walking down the flight of around fifty stairs, they were rocky platforms to climb up along with the sound of running water. Ellynore had a go at climbing up the first rock but it was a bit slippery from the water; she did, however, managed to get to the top but with not as much effort as when she traversed to opposite sides of a raised bridge.

At the top was a small waterfall with a wheel moving from the force of the running water. Using this as landmark, Ellyn was able to recount the right direction to the rural town which was located on her right up ahead. There wouldn't be too much climbing—up or down—as this was, thankfully to her, already down. 

Following the stone path, the sound of the waterfall mechanism had become distant and a warm breeze brushed against Ellynore's face. 

In fact, the breeze was too warm for her, and she was known to have a resistance against strong heats—she even said that she preferred heatwaves from cold whirlwinds and only wore whatever she felt like; if she was cold in spring, she'd put on cold clothes, and vice versa. 

Having felt the high-temperature breeze passing her, Ellynore had a twisted feeling inside her, an intuition that danger was afoot. _No, Berial can't appear now, she told herself silently. I don't even have a bloody sword to defend myself with! _

This was going to be one messy night—and a living hell—for this teenage girl.

Nero had passed the bridge and was on his way up, jumping up the rocky platforms with ease—he was a very good jumper. But, even when he did reach back up the top, he felt a strange wave of heat pass by. 

_That's odd, _he thought to himself. He turned his gaze to the left and caught sight of a few small wooden houses standing of dirt-felt soil against the lighting of the evening sky. _Let's just hope there aren't any demons around here. _

Ellynore knew well enough that she wasn't supposed to be facing the Conqueror of the Fire Hell, but Nero. If the Hell Gate from the far side of the village summoned this greater demon to face against a young girl with Runner Vision, it would end up as a major chance to the original plotline of the game. Ellynore did not want to risk that. 

Thankfully, Ellynore took the chance to look around the houses and see if there was anything useful for combat. In a house closest to the cave, there was a 9mm pistol with tons of ammunition stored in a draw. In the house behind that one was a short blade sheathed in leather—it looked more like a long butcher knife as Ellyn has seen all sorts of knives of that kind in her own kitchen; she didn't have a belt to attack the sheathed knife onto, but she did find one lying around in a house further away from the cave's exit, and it was the kind of belt that she adored—black, made out of the usual leather, with several metal studs like stars aligned between each buckle hole and running the line in a full circle. From a fourth house on the other side of the dirty path was another blade, this time around one metre long and could be held at her back. It was thin but sharp, decorated with a faded golden hilt, in the form of a katana. 

Now, Ellynore was prepared for battle, or at least a small one. 

But, as she just exited the fourth house, another hot breeze passed her; this one, however, was twice the heat as the last one when she left the cave. Suspicion filled her mind as she slowly turned her head to the distant Hell Gate. It was the shape of a perfect rectangle with silver runes engraved as if the Gate was a giant metal curtain. At the bottom of both sides were opaque stands that had a small curve meeting at one third of the Gate's total height. 

A small dot of yellow-orange lit up and it started to spread at the centre of the Hell Gate, expanding into a thick line, then a spiky circle until a fiery spiral burst out of the Gate and headed towards the village, but left Ellynore untouched as each of the buildings were set aflame, fires spread out across each roof, scaffold and porch alike. The small metal signs were even rocking back and forth from the burning rush that just passed through. 

The earth shook and Ellyn turned around and saw Berial—a fiery demon lord in the form of a centaur, with a heavy sword in hand that glowed with intense heat, its head dark like molten rock against it's glowing eyes, nose and devilish mouth, strong horns emerged at the top like two mighty candles, its long tail emitting a string of fire which reminded Ellynore of a Balrog's whip from The Lord of the Rings movies, its paws leaving footprints that could burn grass to ashes in seconds—slowing making its way over to the village casually. 

"The human world," Berial said to himself slowly in contemplation, its voice deep and powerful that carried the air with a sense of danger. "It's been a while." 

Now Ellynore became hesitant with the situation at hand—she only got what she could in the available time she had before Berial came spurting himself out of the Hell Gate. If Nero had caught up to her by now, it would have been a lot easier for the inexperienced teenage girl.  
>She moved as little as possible, hoping that she'd be more than subtle towards the fiery demon lord's sight. Although she preferred the heat rather than the cold, the fire on the village's houses were beginning to annoy her, feeling skin against her face, neck and hands trying to resist the high temperature, but was slowly becoming futile. She moved a bit away from the burning wooden walls, walking in the opposite direction of Berial while trying to keep her movements quiet and at a subtle pace. <p>

Suddenly, the sound of a gun firing was heard from behind, along with the demon lord's grunt of irritation. Ellynore looked back to see Nero firing Blue Rose at Berial, who had only stepped out of the underground cave. 

She thought about the unusual change of scenery—if Nero is here facing Berial, this could be made as a distraction and she would be able to press on her journey and find Dante before Nero does, if she can make it to the Order of the Sword's headquarters. 

Seizing the opportunity at hand, Ellyn quietly ran her way over to a nearby warehouse—from there, it would lead to another cave which held entrance to the cold, snowy mountains where Fortuna Castle was located. Although, the thought of having to go through the castle where it was capped with snow and ice was something she did not want to deal with.

The high mountains were nearly unbearable with the strong wind blowing snow along her path—how she wished that she could stay where Nero was challenging Berial.

Ellynore could barely stand the snow being blown across her face and body. No wonder she hated winter. The weather was never like this at Mt. Kosciusko, she thought as she tried to drag her jogger-soaked feet across the thick layers of snow. The last things she wanted to suffer from were a flu and frostbite. _God, I'd kill for a coat right now! _She really wished for it, although there were no demons for her to fight against, thankfully. 

Eventually, she did make her way across the mountain pass and the snowstorm had dissipated when Fortuna Castle was in view. The large waxing moon gave light to the area below, and Ellynore saw the fragile bridge light up red—due to her Runner Vision—as it came into view from the moonlight. I know this bridge, but it'll collapse before I'll take a third step on it, she complained in her head. Normally, she would not take any chances of walking on a bridge and letting it come down like it suffered from an earthquake. But, to her dismay, there was no other way down.

Nero had just proven himself victorious against Berial. The village was now in ruins, the wooden planks laid flat on the ground with even more pieces of wood burning from the fierce battle. 

"That arm," Berial said exhaustedly, gazing upon Nero's right arm that was glowing blue with power. "You are not human." 

"Don't ask," Nero replied, annoyed by how the fiery demon lord was another being who was curious for his right arm's demonic deformity. "Thing drives me crazy, though." 

"You were just like he was." 

_Great, another riddle from a demon, _Nero thought from Berial's comment. The male youth could only guess as to whom the demon lord was referring to when he said "he," but he gave up on this mental search as the only being he had in mind from this strange topic was Dante, although he did not have the evidence to prove this. "And 'he' would be..?" Nero asked in wonder. 

To his surprise, Berial did not think to answer his question, but said only to himself, "I must restore my powers." With that said, he transformed into a large ball of fire and was making an escape. 

"Hey!" 

Nero tried to ask Berial again to when his question was left unanswered, but the ball of flames flew its way to the Hell Gate, closing it when the orange light went out. The youth was now left alone with the flat piles of rubble burnt to the ground. _I'm glad Ellyn wasn't here to see this, _he thought, sporting a small smile in relief.

Getting to the main bridge that led to Fortuna Castle was something that Ellynore did not wish to go through again—when she first set foot on the higher bridge, it only gave her five seconds to run back and avoid being brought down to the ground with the collapsing bridge, which would have led to her death. Thankfully, she was out of danger in the nick of time, but she had to vault herself down to each two-metre high ledge just to get down safely. 

But, as soon as she was going straight for Fortuna Castle, large ice demons appeared from the thick snow and roared at Ellynore's direction. She knew these ones, but what's worse was that they commanded her least favourite element. Trying to stay as composed as she possibly could, she brought out her dai-katana from her back and prepared to face the demons. 

There were only two and one of them started charging up at her, firing large icy shards from its back that directed up in the air and came down to where Ellynore was standing. She quickly ran out of the ice shards' direction, but the snow kept her from running the same speed as she would on concrete. The demon charged at her again until it was close enough for her to strike with her own weapon. Swinging it in a diagonal direction—from top-right to bottom-left—she was able to lay some damage to her opponent. The strike nearly felt like cutting a thick piece of glass in half. As the demon began to attack Ellynore, she quickly blocked it and laid another attack but in a horizontal swing. She attacked a few time more until, her enemy collapsed on the snow-filled ground and prepared to face the other one. 

However, this one happened to be shielding itself with layers of ice formed in the shape of a four-pointed star. Ellyn quickly closed in on the demon and did what she could to break the icy barrier, parts of it falling to pieces as she laid more attacks. Shortly, all the layers of ice were broken and the demon was weakened. With another wave of blocks and streak of attacks, the other demon was defeated and Ellynore was now left alone to make more progress on her journey. 

_If I keep staying ahead of Nero, I might be able to prevent some dangers that would affect him. I'll still need to find Dante if he's nearby. _This kept running through her mind as she paced over to the castle's entrance along the metallic bridge. When looking back to the snowy cliffs, she could see Nero walking his way to the damaged bridge. The sight of him made her quicken her pace—almost like she was running a walkathon—and reached the huge double doors that led her inside Fortuna Castle.

Upon entry, she could see a large portrait of the city's priest on the other side. _That's where I have to go, _she thought before looking up at the ceiling where a large chandelier held in place. _But, how do I get to the chandelier at the top? _

It wasn't long until her Runner Vision kicked in when she took another few steps forward. A door on the far left on the second floor colonnade lit up in the same fluorescent red colour, a nearby table and some climbable ledges following up the colonnade also lit up red. Ellynore saw this clearly and began to prepare herself, five metres of distance separation her from the table, and ran up to it. As she made her last step, she used a chair to propel herself with her right foot and prepared her left to leap from the table and catch onto the highlighted ledge.

Once her grip became firm on the ledge, she tried to use her feet to support her while she reached for the next ledge above her with her right hand first, followed by her left when she kicked herself up from below. She repeated this pattern—as all the other gaps above were highlighted red—until she made it to the top of the balcony. 

Now standing steadily, she jogged over to the red-highlighted door and opened it, which led her to the castle gallery with the brightly lit chandelier, stationary soldier armour and small artefacts found behind the glass of display cases. 

_If I'm right, the other side of the hallway should lead me to the library, _Ellyn thought whilst examining the room, eyeing the door that quickly turned red. She went over to the door and swung it open, looking over to the far right to check there were no demons that would dare get in her way and slow her progress on her journey. There were none, thankfully, and she was able to walk to the other side of the outdoor path with ease. As she was walking towards the entrance to the library, a soft sound was heard, one that was from ahead and not from behind her when the wind blew ghastly with the snow. 

She looked and was caught by surprise when she spotted a blonde woman who seemed rather familiar. 

"Hey, what are you doing here?" she asked the mysterious person who has been flipping through the pages of a dozen different books on the nearby desk. 

"I should ask you the same thing too," the figure turned around and it was revealed to be a tall woman with long blonde hair, light blue eyes, pale skin and a tight, black leather outfit with the design of a lightning bolt running down the centre of her corset that barely fit to cover her cleavage. The woman's tone of voice was mellow with kindness but was also hinted with inquisition. Ellyn recognised the woman to be Trish, a beautiful woman who commands lightning by will, and a former servant of the demon emperor Mundus, although the younger girl went on to pretend that she never met her before, as she'd done with Dante and Nero. "So, what's a girl like you doing here at Fortuna Castle at this time of night?"

"Looking for someone," Ellynore replied. She stepped in the library, eyeing the books that were laid down on the desk Trish was at. "What are you reading?" 

"Probably won't interest you very much—just stuff about ancient history." 

"Well that's a coincidence, because ancient history's my favourite school subject, next to writer's craft." 

"Huh, you don't say…" Trish didn't say this as a question, but her tone was now filled with intrigue. "Guess you're the bookworm type of school-girl, huh?" 

"Yep, you've just about nailed it at that point there," she answered. "What about you?" 

"Don't get too surprised, but you and I may have a lot more in common than expected earlier. I happen to have a deep thirst for knowledge—currently, I'm looking up on the Legends of Sparda, a rather intriguing topic but most people get confused with the ancient Greek city of Sparta." 

"Yeah, I guess that's understandable." She knew this well, even with the fact that she going to study a fair deal on Sparta in ancient history class when she goes back to school after the summer holidays. Thinking there was something else she had to say and found it, she pressed on, "Hey, you know, this castle's been a point of residence for the Order. What would happen if you got caught?" 

"I won't get caught, and they'll hardly even notice," the blonde woman replied without worry. "I've got a disguise set up for them." 

"What kind of disguise?" She would've known the answer, but still pretended in being dumb, which was excruciating for her. 

Trish turned to face Ellynore, a grin set on her lovely face, and then quickly spun around in a blur, her entire image turned into that of a completely different woman—her skin was more tanned than ever, her long blonde hair turned white and short to the ear, her blue eyes turned silver as if they glowed in the dark, and her black leather outfit changed into a white leather one with decorated blue, angel wings on the shoulders, and was even more revealing than before. "Girl, meet Gloria," she then said with pride after a few seconds. 

Ellynore was wide-eyed. "Wow, you're right—it's actually really hard for me to remember what you looked liked from before. I'm impressed." 

"Thank you. By the way, what's your name?" She asked while walking up to the teenage girl, her head turned to each side to look at her more closely. 

"I'm Ellynore, but my friends call me Ellyn for short." 

"Nice to meet you, too, Ellynore. Just call me Gloria for now—however, if I'm in my original form, like when you saw me before I put on this disguise, you may call me Trish." 

"Fair enough, err, Gloria." 

"You're good at remembering names, aren't you?"  
>"You have no idea." Ellyn said this as casually as she could, but still couldn't help knowing the woman so well, even from a collection of animated TV episodes she often watched off a DVD. <p>

"Say, have you heard of a man named Dante?" 

"I think I have. Why, do you know where he is?" 

"He's on his way to the Order of the Sword's headquarters—said there's some unfinished business to take care of." Ellynore looked down as if submitting to defeat. "You're looking for him, aren't you?" Gloria said in a slightly lower tone.

Ellynore was surprised that the older, more beautiful woman had discovered what she was doing. "How did you know," she asked Gloria, wide-eyed once again. 

"I can identify quite a few things from looking at a person's profile. So, let's see how much I've learned from you." Ellyn was still wide-eyed, but also afraid that her true presence could be accidently given out. "Let's see… You're around sixteen or seventeen—" 

"Seventeen and a half, actually," Ellynore corrected her, interrupting. 

"Right—so, you're not from anywhere near Fortuna; you have some interests in exploring new places as well as in ancient history; you don't have must experience in fighting demons; and you've recently made friends with the young fighter Nero." 

"…Whoa… And, that's all you can find from me? There's nothing else?" 

"Well, there is another thing in you that I've found, but it's very hard for me to figure out what it is exactly." After another look at Ellynore for a few moments, Gloria asked, "Where are you from?" 

The younger girl was caught slightly off guard when being asked this, and she couldn't think of anything implicit to describe her home in Australia. "Well, my home may not be anywhere near this part of the country," she said as she thought of more appropriate words to say. "I'm not even sure of how faraway I am from home now." 

"That's alright. There are some other people in the city who have come from other faraway countries like yourself, so you're not the only one. How did you reach Fortuna? Car, a taxi, travel bus, plane—" 

"I walked," Ellynore abruptly answered, trying not to make too many lies. "I was on my own." She saw that there was a hint of disbelief in Gloria's silver eyes, and decided to change the subject. "Hey, have you seen any demons around here? I'm just wondering, because I don't want to end up in any trouble." 

Gloria looked around when exiting the library, silence following. Soon, one scarecrow demon came from above and was about to attack her from behind, but she jumped off only milliseconds away from the demon's assault and the demon followed suit and called another to go after her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Devil May Cry—Interference  
>Chapter 4<strong>

As Trish/Gloria leapt off the high ledge of Fortuna Castle with the ambushing demons, Ellynore was about to look around the library for a second exit. When there was none, she made a detour along the hall and gallery, trying hard while walking to figure out how she was able to get out of the demon-infested castle when she played the game; it was always such a frustrating maze.

"Damn it," Ellynore cursed under her breath. "Where did I have to go to get out of this place?" Just when she was about to give herself a headache, an idea popped up in her mind. "To get out of Fortuna Castle, there was a bridge that led to Echidna's forest—it's underneath the huge waterfall and it can be lowered from a switch located on one of the high balconies of the castle!"  
>With an open smile and determination and adrenaline running inside her, she dashed off to one of the many doors in the extremely long hallway that encircled two thirds of the castles second floor. From the door Ellyn chose, she ran past the dining room and jogged up the three consecutive flights of stairs that led outside, her eyes nearly gawking at the huge waterfall that held the bridge in place. <p>

"Whoa… That's one big waterfall," she said quietly to herself. "But then again, I've never really seen Niagara Falls at a glance." She felt her legs trembling, energy almost drained from her long hours of running, jogging, strafing and—if she could at school sports carnivals—sprinting. Taking the chance to rest, she sat down by the stairs that descended to where the bridge would drop when Nero turns the switch. 

Whilst she was waiting, Ellynore was able to think about what would happen if she reached Dante before Nero did, and what could happen if she got herself further involved with the situation at hand. Even if she got new powers, it didn't necessarily mean that taking down more demons would be easy. She had even played games that involved high-tech weapons that were capable of taking down strong enemies in less than a minute, although she hadn't come across anything like that at all in this world. _I still need to be ahead of Nero, but that priest may need to be stopped soon, _Ellynore thought. _Dante's pretty good, but I need to tell him about what's to come. But, I guess I'll have to be discrete with him even after that battle I've had with him. He did nearly slash me in half at the opera house. Could I really tell him about where I'm from? Is there a way for them to understand how I got here in the first place? _She sighed, her hands resting on her knees as she pondered on about her little secret being revealed. _Could I really be trusted, at all? _

Ellynore's thoughts lingered on until she heard chains moving against gears, looking up to see the metal barricades drop from the top of the waterfall to prevent gallons of water to come down the edge. Under those barricades was a wide cave that would lead out into the Forest of Delusion, Ellyn's next stop. Close by, the bridge came through a gap from the end of Fortuna Castle's stone path, steadily connecting itself to the cave with its edges glowing in a teal green light. As the bridge was finally connected, she looked up to see if Nero had been at the top of Fortuna Castle—he was unseen, presumably gone to find a safe way back to the ground level, but she was still ahead. At least she didn't have to meet the speech-impaired scientist at the lab.  
>Speaking of ahead, before making a second look back at the demon-infested castle, Ellynore broke into a jog across the bridge, climbing over small rocky steps before halting when a bright light broke out at the other side of the cave tunnel. Her eyes squinted as a reaction when she saw the light, her eyes slowly adjusting from spending a few hours in a poorly lit castle or even in the moonlight. <p>

She took slow steps as she came closer to the light, pale shades of green being made out when almost out of the tunnel completely. The green colours were less pale but became clearer and brighter, small lines of brown appearing in-between some of those green patches. Ellynore's eyes were not squinting as much as before once she saw a vast, lively forest with many trees standing equally down the cliff-face she was now standing on. 

Seeing the forest, her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell agape as she saw the natural beauty held within every acre the forest had covered. She eventually became disappointed as she was reminded of a she-demon dragon that lurked beneath the bush, as some Australians like herself would say. This was the Forest of Delusion, after all—anything that Ellynore would come across could be a trap ready to be sprung. 

"I guess looks can be deceiving, even at a place like this," a voice was heard. 

Ellyn, startled, took a cautious step back whilst drawing her katana from her back. I know that voice, she said in her mind. She should know this voice as it should belong to the leather-clad man she encountered back in the Opera House. "Where are you, Mister Guns-and-Swords?" she called out with alertness, thinking of a rather evocative nickname to catch Dante's attention. 

The response came as a light chuckle, Ellynore turning her head this way and that. "Never been called that before… I think I could get used to that one." The man finally revealed himself, walking calmly near the edge of the cliff platform. Dante's sky-blue eyes later focused on Ellynore's ochre-brown ones before saying, "Looks like you came more prepared this time. I don't know why you're even going so far as to win this little race against that kid from the Opera House—whatever his name is—but, if you wouldn't mind just lowering that sword of yours…I'd like to know what you're intentions really are." 

Ellyn was mentally stunned from Dante's offer, carefully holstering her katana onto her back and standing up straight. "Your name's Dante, isn't it?" 

He raised his arms out lazily and said, "You've got that right, little lady." 

She looked away for a moment—nobody ever called her little, let alone a little lady—but faced him again and said calmly, "You may not believe me.., but there's a sort of thing that'll happen soon. I wanted to be able to find you before N— the other guy got there first, because…that priest you shot…is planning on using you to make a giant statue come to life and wreak havoc wherever it'll go." She chose her words very carefully as she went on, not wanting to reveal everything about her secret…yet. "The priest is actually after you, and he probably won't stop until you reach the Order of the Sword headquarters…and fall into his trap." She sighed. "And, I don't think any of us would want that to happen…" 

Silence gave way, Ellynore staring the white-haired man who'd been listening contently. After what seemed to feel like a whole day, he spoke calmly, "I get it." Her ears clicked in from his voice, a slight bit shocked by his words. "Somehow you've managed to figure out what those white-clad bastards are up to and you're suddenly a freelance messenger bringing out a warning of what's to come. Personally, I didn't think you'd have the brains to do that," he went on as he strolled towards this way and that. "I guess there really was something fishy going on back at that old, snow-glazed castle. You know, girl, I would've expected news like what you've just said from a random fortune-teller—but how did you figure it out?" 

"I, uh…" Ellynore felt like Dante was throwing needles at her skin. Oh, how she loathed needles so much… She tried to come up with a subtle answer to his little question, but her mind nearly stopped running as her eyes wondered off, nearly losing her ability to think. 

"It doesn't matter," Dante said after a few seconds. 

Ellyn looked back up, perplexed. 

He continued, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. You shouldn't always spill the beans, you know? Anyway, thanks for giving me that little warning. I'll just slow down a bit—let the other guy catch up." Clicking his fingers suddenly, he asked her, "Since I've got the feeling you can be trusted, you mind telling me your name?" He then casually went over to lean on a huge rock, folding his arms across his belted chest as he showed off a small grin on his face.  
>She was hesitant once again when he asked her name. It did seem like she can be trusted, even to a strange kind of human like Dante himself. Although he didn't have the right idea about Ellynore being running across huge areas just to stop some rogue priest, she didn't really have many options to choose from in a situation like that, and neither did Nero. Sooner or later, she will have to team up with him and, of course, Dante and Trish if the worse were to come. <p>

"I'm Ellynore," she answered. "Ellynore Moonwood, in full." 

Dante let out a quite "huff" while nodding in amusement. "Not bad. I guess that first name of yours must mean something..." 

"It means 'light'." 

"Ah. I see..." 

The faint, rhythmic sound of footsteps came from behind Ellynore and was becoming a crescendo with each passing second of time She was soon became tense with the growing sound. Nero's coming, she said in her mind. 

"Go on ahead, Ellynore," she heard Dante whisper. "I'll meet out down on the forest floor, near the Hell Gate." 

Adrenaline was pumping up through Ellyn's limbs, suddenly breaking into a dash past where Dante was leaning and slid down the hill near some temple ruins.

Nero was walking near towards the edge of the cliff face, overlooking the forest. 

"Well... What the hell is this?" Dante came up when Nero didn't notice, near exaggerating over the dark forces that lurked beneath the many trees growing below. "Must be the effect of the Gate..." 

Nero saw Dante, drawing out Blue Rose at him, asking in a demanding tone, "You... What are you doing here?" He never got any straight answers from the man in red back at the Opera House—he may have his chance at that now, perhaps. 

Unfortunately, this was not the case. "Sorry, kid. This is gonna have to wait." Dante daringly stood right at the edge and let himself fall off backwards, still keeping his position stable. Nero sprinted over to the edge to see his suspect descend in a sort of grace he'd never witnessed in his life. Nero was now becoming even more annoyed than he was when he'd had his indescribable episode against Agnus in the Fortuna Castle laboratory—his mission was one big mystery, even more so as he was trying to master the use of his new katana, Yamato. 

"How much could he really know?" he asked himself harshly under his breath before turning to take the "safe" way down into the Forest of Delusion.

Ellynore barely made her way out of the temple ruins in the forest as there were new demons appearing on almost every path she's had to take to get back to Dante. 

Her battle abilities were becoming stronger since her last encounter back in the snow; her shots from her gun were becoming more accurate—she decided to use a technique she'd use for archery where she shut her lazy left eye to pinpoint where the shot would go before making it—and her arms became more adjusted to the fluent strikes made with her long katana. On the plus side, from her own perspective, she'd even been getting less tired at the end of each battle; in that particular case, that was when her throat kept on drying up and her breathing uneasy. 

Fighting against the demons with razor sharp vines became difficult for her as she kept leaping backwards to avoid the thorns from making holes in her clothes, and eventually sinking into her skin—the last thing she wanted was blood poisoning. The vine demons even took control of some of the weak Scarecrow demons to make them tougher to beat. When dealing with those, Ellynore relied on guns pointed at the head. 

Despite having to avoid many obstacles like slippery hills and the frequent demons appearing near the temple ruins, she was able to press on in the forest, only slightly enlightened with the humidity and sun that reminded her of home. Australia was such a dry place to be, but she'd spent her whole life there, growing used to the heat and sunlight that poured down from the sky and kept her warm against the cold she'd greatly disliked. 

"Good to see you again," she heard Dante's voice from ahead. She saw him up near a alabaster-coloured staircase—Ellynore recognised this as a landmark that led up towards the Hell Gate guarded by Echidna, the dragon she-demon that guarded the Forest of Delusion from any trespassers, which simply meant anyone who didn't look like a Scarecrow demon having its head clutched by a moving Venus Fly-Trap. 

She went up the stairs, sighing before saying, "We're gonna have to fight that dragon floating around in the canopy aren't we?" 

"We will soon, but that can wait at another time. If you think the Order of the Swords guys are after a fight with me, then they're gonna get it." Dante looked up from the stairs, as if looking at a tall, rectangular station from a distance. "Not that we would want to leave the kid fight the dragon-bitch, but first things first: we find that priest—he should've still been dead even after I shot him at point-blank range." He got out his two trusty pistols, Ebony and Ivory, glancing at their contrasting colours before reloading them. "You ready to go, Ellynore?" 

"I don't know," she replied. "Do you know of any weapons I could get around here? Mine seem to be getting close to the point of breaking in pieces." She looked at her katana that was strapped at her back, the hilt already catching rust. Bits and chips of metal were coming off of her gun's exterior body, and the gray polish was quickly wearing out. Those villagers near Berial's Hell Gate should have gone to purchase a better arsenal of weapons instead of keeping the ones they had till they couldn't cut a branch from a small gumtree. 

"Would these help?" Dante got out a shotgun with "Coyote-Y" engraved near the barrel from behind his back, laying the weapon down carefully on the ground as he later kicked it to Ellynore's feet when he got out a set of two curved swords, one of them gleaming in a coppery colour while the other shined in light blue and aqua. With those both in his hands, Dante flicked them up and caught them at the sharp ends, but his skin had a sort of immunity to cuts. Coming over to Ellyn, he said, "Those two here are Agni and Rudra, blades of fire and wind. The shotgun right there"—he used Agni in his left hand to point to the new gun at Ellynore's feet—"is Coyote-Y. Treat them nicely and they'll become you're new best friends." 

Dante handed the swords over to Ellyn and she took them with her hands, her eyes looking over the handles which had twin heads glaring with blue and amber eyes. 

She took a step back, laying the two swords down and getting the old katana off her back so that she could make room for the new twin blades. No doubt, she had recognised these swords from an earlier realise of the Devil May Cry game series, but she only had one game, and it was very hard to find a fresh copy. Ellynore put Rudra on her back with her left hand, getting Agni on with her right with success. Next, she replaced the old gun that was nearly a piece of junk and took Coyote-Y, stopping once her mind told her that she couldn't carry it at her hip. 

"Hold on," Dante said as he dashed by a tree and pulled out three green ropes, tying them up into one odd-looking bundle and went back to Ellynore to tie it around her waist. "See if you can slip the shotgun through the holes." She did so and had fit perfectly through the gaps Dante had tied up for God-knows-how-quickly-he-did-it. 

"It feels a bit heavy, though," Ellyn said, trying to adjust to the weight of the shotgun held firmly at the back of her waist. 

"You'll get used to it," Dante said. "Just leave your old stuff there and we'll on our way. You do know how to use two swords at once, right?" 

"I've seen it done before. I don't have any first-hand experience, but I do have a fair idea about it." 

"There you go, then. Alright, to get to the Order of the Sword base, we'll need to get pass some obstacles up on the hills—we're still in this demon-infested jungle here, but we'll be able to press on if we stick close. You got that?" 

Ellynore nodded, listening to and understanding the Devil Hunter's advice. 

"Great. You'll know what to do once we're at the old man's front door. So, c'mon!" Dante ran up the stairs, taking two at a time with each step. Ellyn followed suite as they headed out of the Forest of Delusion, and on the road to the Order of the Sword HQ. Ellynore desperately hoped she knew what was to expect later on.


	5. Chapter 5

**Devil May Cry—Interference  
>Chapter 5<strong>

Nero had had enough. He was sick and tired of seeing demons escaping and not having the guts to swallow their own pride when he won the raging duels.

He had just taken a fight against Echidna—strange how she took a name that did not fit her dragon-like form—and was now heading his way to the Order of the Sword headquarters. Nero needed answers and he needed them now. Why should this Dante care about some little, weak demons terrorising a forest? There was something about that man that did not seem right to him.

Ellynore and Dante were walking up the narrow flight of stairs to the main entrance of the Order of the Sword HQ. Despite having a strange encounter with the Devil Hunter down in the forest, Ellynore was still a little uneasy with herself being a "teammate" to Dante, although he did offer her new weapons to use, not to mention much better than the items she salvaged from the village near Berial's Hell Gate.

"Are you alright there, Ellynore?" Dante asks as he reached the top of the stairs, noticing that her pace had slowed.

"Huh? Oh," she replied, startled from her train of thought. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks, Dante." She looked up at the high towers of the Order of the Sword base. "So you know about that priest you killed and he's plotting—"

"—to resurrect the power of my old man and become a god," Dante finished for her. "I've done my homework, and I can tell the old coot was up to nothing but trouble when I first saw him."

She didn't need to be reminded that Dante planned to assassinate Sanctus back at Fortuna's Opera House; she knew more about what occurred in this world than anyone else around, simply because it was based off of a video game back home. To her own surprise, as she was continuing down the path to stop the villain, a sense of homesickness was steadily growing on her.

Dante looked back ahead and raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, gazing at the tall towers of the Order of the Sword base. "That's tall enough to keep a bunch of enormous statues in the attic, to say the least."

"What makes you think that?"

"Their boss might be holding something big inside, and they usually hold them at the top of a huge building—like this place. There's also going to be some other big guys who won't hesitate to try to slow us down once we're inside. I say we work our way up and take down the rookies, then the big guys until we reach the top and see their big-shot leader."

"So basically we just hit whatever gets in our way on some game of 'snakes and ladders'?" The ladders part Ellynore understood, but the part with the snakes nearly gave her a scary thought.

Luckily, Dante was quick to add his comment "Well, 'snakes and ladders' sounds more of an understatement to what we're really doing, but I can tell where you're getting at."

She felt slightly calm, knowing that her little idea gave her the more realistic view on the whole objective—but she was more fearful than calm as her thoughts dwelled on what and who she may have to fight against. She may not be able to stop the demonic priest from capturing Nero and Kyrie, near completing his ritual with the giant Sparta statue and having the two young people processing into it.

Another thought was brought up in her mind that reminded her of a different game to "Devil May Cry," despite the fact that she hadn't played it. Her younger brother would constantly talk about how that particular game had a similar situation to what Sanctus was aiming, only there were much more than two humans involved and the Sparta statue was replaced with a by a super machine constructed by bug-like aliens. Still, she wouldn't know anything about that unless she herself played the game and witnessed those very events—so she immediately drew that to the back of her mind.

They headed down a short path of steps before passing inside the huge fortress that was the Order of the Sword HQ.

Ellynore was exhausted, hands pushing against her knees as she was panting to catch her breath. She and Dante were fighting through dozens of those demon-infested knights in silver and gold armour, and she was soon getting tired of it, even when she was doing as much work in the fights as the Devil Hunter was.

"How many...of these knights...are there..., Dante?" Ellynore said in-between breaths.

"Who knows? But, you seemed to be doing pretty good," he answered, clearly not exhausted at all. "Besides, we only went up by two levels."

She took a deep breath before responding, "That's a lot harder than it sounds to me. Oh, God... I don't know how much more I can take this." Perspiration beaded down from her forehead before she lifted a hand to wipe at the sweat under her fringe. "I'm not very fit, you know."

"Hey, you'd probably have more willpower in exercising than I do from the look of things here. Besides, from a teenage girl like you, you've got a lot of guts, fighting against all those knights. And not to mention with my little pair of swords and shotgun—that's impressive for somebody like you."

"You had to help me with the shotgun back on the first floor, and I nearly got myself a cramp in my elbow when I pulled the trigger that time!"

"You'll get used to it. Just like they say, practise makes perfect."

After their little conversation and Ellynore had enough oxygen in her lungs to continue, they looked around for a way higher up in the Order of the Sword Headquarters. Ellynore was able to find a hidden pathway with the help of her Runner vision. Despite that pathway having to lead them into a room with a giant, slowly rotating drill, they still made progress on their way up each level. They were working together as they pressed on substantially but even then there were a number of difficulties they ran into, even for the Devil Hunter himself.

"Well, that situation nearly got a bit sticky for us," Dante commented once they were out of yet another dark hallway.

Ellynore suddenly stopped as a sense of nostalgia hit her. In the room they were entering, she recognised the large room around her. The floor had carpet of a burgundy colour almost close to a red. There were big, long windows to the side draped with red curtains. In the middle, however, was an ornate stand that covered several square metres of a large white pedestal with two steps on all four sides.

_This is where Nero comes to fight Dante the second time_, she thought in realisation. _So we must be close to that giant Sparda statue_.

"Hey, Light-girl!" Dante called out, clicking his fingers in front of her.

Her eyes blinked once, then twice, before her concentration came back, along with the focus of her other senses, including her hearing when she realised the Devil Hunter had given her another name to call her by.

"You looked like you were staring into space there," he said, drawing his hand back.

"Just do me two favours, OK?"

"Sure."

"I just realised that Nero may be closed by. If so, there could be a lot of bad things waiting for him. Do you have a pen with you?"

"What for? You need to write something down?"

Ellynore searched through her pockets to find a small notepad she always kept alongside her if there was something to write down—there was always something to write down in her case, in or out of her own home. Some of the pages were already written with random reminders or things to look for concerning her unhealthy dose of curiosity.

"If you've got a pen with you, Dante, I can make a little note for Nero if he ever comes by."

"OK, then." Dante got out a black pen and handed it to Ellyn.

"Thanks." She pulled the cap off and put it over the top as she held her notepad. Turning to a blank page, she started writing. She paused once or twice—mostly to figure out how to write her message down with the "correct words" and almost-perfect grammar—and finally finished. She put the cap on the pen back where it was, gave it back to Dante and ripped the page off her notepad.

"Where are you going to put it?"

Looking around, Ellynore tried to find a good place to put her note, perhaps a table or a crack in the walls. But she found nothing, and answered, "I think I'm going to have to give it to Nero in person."

"You're going back? He might not have reached this place yet, or he could be in another room."

Dante did have a point. They went through a lot of rooms, but there was one they didn't find, and it was supposed to be a sort of dead end if you lost your way around the HQ.

"I think I know where to go. Just… stay here and wait for me until I can pass this message on."

And so, Ellynore ran back through the dark hallway, quickly folding the new note in half and putting it in her pocket safely. _I hope that illiterate bug guy hasn't kidnapped Kyrie yet_.


End file.
